“Ian,” Yancy Barrow took a very gentle route. “I’m going to show you something not very pretty but I need you to look at it and tell me what you see.”
He nodded his head and accepted a photograph the agent handed him.
“This is a photograph of the crime scene where we found Ella’s body.” Andy warned him.
One look, and it became difficult for Ian to swallow. He put his hand to his mouth and forced himself to examine it closely. He slipped it back on the desk face down and nodded. “Writing in blood on the wall behind the body. I can’t read what it says.”
The three men looked at each other and smiled. “It’s difficult to tell from the wall, but tests have confirmed that Ella wrote it in her own blood before she died.”
“Before her skull…”
Ian held up that hand again. “Got it.” He took another hard swallow and reached for the water, forgoing the cup and just slurping from the room temperature pitcher.
“She was a smart girl.” Barrow said looking off into a good memory. “She protected it in a way she knew would keep it safe. Now all we have to do is figure out what it means.”
The sound of more shuffling photographs made Ian’s head turn. “She leaned up against it and it soaked into the linen blouse she was wearing. Can you read it now?”
“Damn…” Ian groaned. “Hutton… it says Hutton and two other words.”
“Okay, Ian, this actually sounds worse than it is.” Andy Mitchell reached for a third photograph. The blood soaked through her shirt and dried on her skin, using computer timing mechanisms on blood spatter we were able to get a little better picture.”
He handed the last one to Ian. He was relieved to see that it wasn’t nearly as wretching as either of the others. He looked at it closely. “Hutton something girl…bad girl?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry it doesn’t make sense.”
Handing the photo back, Ian sighed. “Wait…” He grabbed the second photo back and looked again nodding his head. “It’s not three words. It’s four.”
Ian pointed out his point as the three men leaned in closer. “Look…Hutton top line clearly…then something “AD” and break then I’m pretty sure that’s the word “girl” but both underneath the first word.”
“Right.” Barrow agreed.
“Down here,” Ian pointed a few inches down angled to the right. “It looks like a smudge, but its another word…something that starts with an “s” maybe?”
“It sort of trails off like she was losing energy or consciousness maybe, struggling to get it written.” One of them said.
“But he’s right. It’s clearly another word.”
“Does that help any?” Ian looked up at them.
“Yes and maybe more when we run that part of the spatter through the computer.” Andy said and picked up the phone.
“One more thing, and I’m satisfied.” Ian plopped back down in the chair. “Obviously there is a third party involved, the forgery proves that, but how do we catch this guy?”
“We’re not…” Kellen gave a hard look at Ian who returned it making him back down.
“Again, Isabella left us a little clue to his identity.” Yarrow explained. “There was blood on her skirt that doesn’t match hers. I’m running it through our DNA banks, but I’m willing to bet it matches, everything else does.”
“Matches?” Ian asked.
“For the past few years a series of similar scams have popped up, each company involved larger, each pay off bigger and each with a larger pile of bodies we’ve managed to connect getting bigger.”
“How long?” Ian asked.
“A little under a decade. Each time, someone is fingered for the scam and an employee from the company disappears without a trace.”
“Descriptions, finger prints, anything?” Ian hoped.
“Pretty clean. Usually a man…”
“Usually?” Ian balked.
“Always the same approximate height and weight, but twice a woman but not a man.” Barrow admitted.
“Then how do you even know it’s the same person?”
“Desk, apartments, cars, the works wiped clean but on the bodies or at the scene there’s always a stray little piece of DNA, identical that ties them all together.”
“Like what?” Ian asked. “An eye lash, a wad of spit?”
Yancy Barrow nodded his head. “Always something tiny, ignored at first until it showed up enough times to tie it all together. A stray hair on the body of man pushed out a window; skin found underneath the fingernails of a woman bludgeoned to death and not wiped totally clean, little things at almost every scene.”
“And I take it there’s something else that links the scenes together where DNA isn’t found?” Ian was making mental notes in his mind.
Yancy Barrow nodded his head. “In the other cases, and enough with both turning up, the cross factor is the use of a drug called Rohypnol.”
Ian’s eyes popped open and he looked at Kellen. Kellen read the look on Ian’s face and turned to Barrow. “The Date Rape Drug?”
Barrow nodded. “Drop a pill in a an alcoholic drink and if the victim stays awake long enough…in large doses people have been known to go absolutely psychotic.”
“I’m familiar with it.” Ian said. “Mr. Barrow, thank you for the details, but I think it’s my turn.”
“Your turn?” The man said.
“Has Kellen informed you of anything that went on in my life before Blue Richards threw a pipe bomb at it?” Ian looked at Kellen. “Or has he left you out of the loop for your own protection?”
“I…uh…” Kellen stumbled.
“Jackson?” Barrow scrutinized Kellen’s confusion.
Ian held up his hand. “Don’t worry, until about two seconds ago I never would have made any connection either.”
“Do I need to throw a right hook?” Barrow raised an eyebrow.
“He’s right, Yancy.” Kellen admitted. “Until you mentioned Rohypnol, I didn’t think anything concerning Ian connected other than what we’ve discussed.”
“I’m totally lost.” Andy Mitchell shrugged his shoulders and looked at Barrow.
“Shortly after arriving in town, two friends took me out for a night on the town.” Ian informed him. “I had a couple of drinks and suddenly found myself creating a little bit of an Internet sensation.”
Kellen interjected. “I didn’t know him well then. I just assumed that his actions at the club were normal for him. Later, when Ian relayed his version of the evening and his unique reaction to two drinks, I concluded that he’d been ruffied.”
“It’s a stretch, but since we’ve already made the connection it does fit.” Barrow admitted.
“Or could not be connected at all.” Ian said. “However that’s just the warm up.”
“Warm up?”
Ian nodded his head. “Are familiar with my history at all, specifically my son’s history?” Barrow shook his head. “But once again a question in your puzzle oddly answers a question in mine.”
Kellen, hoping to make it easier on Ian jumped in. “Ian’s wife died in childbirth, he gave the boy to his sister in law and her husband to raise. They passed away a few months ago, and now…”
“And now my son and I are reunited. Please don’t ask me to go into any unnecessary details.”
“I won’t.” Barrow nodded his head. “And I’m not seeing any connection.”
Ian took a deep breath. “I had flown back to Lost Mountain, that’s were I was born, for the funeral of the woman who basically raised me. I hadn’t seen Ronnie since I gave him away, but Kyle and Janie the people…” Ian stumbled a bit and left it there. “I had sold them the farm, and my Aunt Hil lived on the property adjacent. After the funeral, Kyle went bersek for lack of a better term, shot a heating oil tank at the back of the house.”
Kellen picked up when it was obvious Ian was having trouble going on. “Janie and Kyle were both killed in the fire. Ian saved the boy.” Kellen turned to Ian. “I’m not sure what this episode has to do with this either to be honest.”
“Well, once again not going into more detail than I have to, Kyle’s sudden actions have bothered me. I’ve known the man all my life. We grew up together, things didn’t make sense, so I had a reporter friend do a little digging.”
“Billy’s sister?” Kellen asked.
“Yes. She put together a little report for me that Billy brought with him. Kyle’s autopsy showed massive amounts of Rohypnol in his system. The investigators in Virginia, assumed that either he had taken some to keep him calm and it backfired or he had a drug problem. Neither made a whole lot of sense to me.”
Andy spoke up. “He could have been worried that you might be coming to take the boy away…”
“You’re thinking like a cop again, Andy.” Ian said. “Not someone who knew this man, and not someone who understood the decisions that were made ten years ago. The only person in that house who would have any difficulty with me seeing my son was me.”
Yancy Barrow sat back in the chair behind the desk. “You are thinking that Blue Richard’s attack was not the first on your life.”
“Not until you put that in my head.” Ian said with a frown. “I was thinking that whatever Kyle ate or drank laced with Rohypnol was meant for me. Someone has been determined that I shoot my own foot off from almost moment one since I arrived at HRT.”
Kellen’s face changed to an odd expression. “He’s right, we’ve been thinking like cops.”
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